Reasonable Voices

There are reasonable voices trying to rebut the notion that "conservatives" and "liberals" are somehow different animals, holding such different values that meaningful civic discussion is impossible.  A recent post at "Patterns that Connect" mined data at the General Social Survey--a respected social science data source maintained by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago--to compare attitudes and values of Americans on a number of highly emotional issues.

First, let me explain what these terms mean. If there are two positions, liberal and conservative, and all liberals support the liberal position, while all conservatives support the conservative position, then there is a 100% difference between them. But if both liberals and conservatives support both positions equally, there is 0% difference. It doesn’t matter how much support there is for each position. All that matters is that the same percentage of liberals and conservatives support each position.

Expanding a bit, we don’t have to limit ourselves to two positions. We can ask people to respond on a sliding scale, and compare the distribution of answers in the same way: If there are 5 categories, and liberals and conservatives respond in the same percentages across the board, then the difference between them will be 0%. If none of the conservatives and liberals respond with a common answer, then the difference will be 100%.

Now, the image that Ender projects—the image that Coulter projects, and that movement conservatives of all stripes project, is that liberals and conservatives have virtually nothing in common. And it’s not just movement conservatives who believe this. It’s the conventional wisdom. It’s all that talk about “Red States/Blue States.”

It’s malarky!

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